Wellington, Florida, USA – January 24, 2025 – Conor O’Regan’s (IRL) goal for the 2025 Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) season was to slowly build Manchester up to a competitive level, but the Delshore Horses-owned gelding had other plans. The duo earned an early season win in the $32,000 Florida Coast Equipment Qualifier CSI 2* on Friday of WEF 3 from an impressive field of 57 entries at Wellington International in Wellington, Florida, USA.
O’Regan piloted the 13-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding (Quidam de Revel x Codex) to one of 11 clear rounds over Peter Grant’s (CAN) course, and the top 12 returned to jump off in the winning round format on a clean slate.
“I think it helps that he’s a naturally fast horse; from my first round I had a pretty good advantage of going third to last, even though Jessica Springsteen and Jordan Coyle, who are both tremendously fast, were behind me,” said O’Regan. “I stuck to my plan and based my round off Wilton Porter’s—he went first and he did a great job. I knew my horse’s footspeed, and it’s a little better than [Wilton’s] so I tried to follow that plan and it paid off.”
Springsteen (USA) came very close to catching O’Regan’s winning time of 39.53 seconds aboard Naomi van het Keizershof, owned by Stone Hill Farm. Ultimately, she stopped the timers five hundredths of a second off the pace to end up second.
With less than a second separating the top three, Daisy Farish (USA) took third aboard Etonemoi del Cabalero, owned by Lanes End Showjumping, in a time of 40.18.
“I’ve had this horse for about two years,” O’Regan expanded on his relationship with Manchester. “It’s owned by Leslie Kopp’s Delshore Horses and I’m very grateful for the support she’s given me with this horse and other horses I have belonging to her.”
O’Regan has campaigned the horse up to the 1.55m level and knows he’s a very competitive ride, but was planning to take things slow this year. “This is his first week showing,” he continued. “I had a plan to slowly build him up here and have him be competitive over the summer but it’s come a little quicker than I expected. He’s naturally very fast and he has a big stride. When he’s with me, he’s always very quick and competitive.”
With no set plan for Manchester, aside from a guaranteed week off during WEF 4, O’Regan plans to see how the season goes and not push the horse too hard.
O’Regan had a special fan in his cheering section Friday, who brought him a little added luck. “My daughter, who is two and a half months old, this is her first day at the horse show,” he shared. “I’m going to have to make sure she comes back Sunday for the Grand Prix.”
Final Results – $32,000 Florida Coast Equipment Qualifier CSI 2*
1) Conor O’Regan (IRL) & Manchester – 0 / 0 – 39.53
2) Jessica Springsteen (USA) & Naomi van het Keizershof – 0 / 0 – 39.58
3) Daisy Farish (USA) & Etonemoi del Cabalero – 0 / 0 – 40.18
Source: Press Release from Wellington International
Photos: © Wellington International / Cassidy Klein / Sportfot
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Categories: CSI 2*, English, Jumper News Ireland
